There is perhaps no college football program with a history that’s anything like the Marshall Thundering Herd. On the surface, the Thundering Herd is just another mid-major program with a limited fanbase outside of its home city of Huntington, West Virginia, making it easy to find cheap Marshall football tickets. However, the Thundering Herd has endured an incredible journey to get to that point. The fact that Marshall has found continued success and has built a fanbase that help to make last-minute Marshall football tickets a hot commodity is a minor miracle.

Out of the Ashes

Marshall has been playing football since 1895, but the program nearly stopped after November 14, 1970, when the team was involved in a plane crash that killed all 75 on board, including 37 players and several coaches. However, under new head coach Jack Lengyel, the Thundering Herd continued onward, albeit with little success on the field for the next 15 years. But in the late 1980s, coach George Chaump got Marshall on track, making them a powerhouse at the I-AA level. Chaump laid the foundation for successors Jim Donnan and Bob Pruett to lead the Thundering Herd to a pair of I-AA national championships in 1992 and 1996.

What’s Up Doc?

After winning the 1996 I-AA national championship, Marshall moved up to what is now the FBS level, immediately becoming one of the best teams in the MAC and a perennial bowl team. In 2010, head coach Doc Holliday took over the program, leading the Thundering Herd to one of the program’s most successful decades. Holliday oversaw eight winning seasons, three trips to the Conference USA title game, and a 6-2 record in bowl games in 11 years. When Holliday left the program after the 2020 season, the West Virginia native had laid down a strong foundation for Marshall to continue to be one of the best mid-major programs in the country.